Peacetime
by Darth Krande
Summary: Answer to the Transformation Festschrift - a drabble about post-Ceasefire from the point of certain five mechs. Warning: spoilers for Transformation - Ha-Hee Prime's novel in five acts.
1. Chapter 1

**Peacetime**

A sidefic to the awesomeness called Transformation – A novel in five acts.

Author's note: The idea stuck in my head when I read the following dialogue. Ha-Hee Prime: *hides under the table in fear of the DJD* Coraconyx: Boss, you don't need to fear the DJD. You're an Autobot. I am having fun imagining their confrontation with your imaginary Megs, tho. Talk about ultimate betrayal...

(during Act IV - Mask)

Messatine.

Home territory and base of operations.

The planet didn't appear to be any more welcoming than it actually was, a snowy hideaway for those who, for whatever reason, could not go back to Cybertron for the great assembly. Like those who had been hunting a warmonger who dared break the Ceasefire that was announced five orns ago. Guessing this may have been the last mission for the Division, each member had taken his time to make the last kill even more memorable.

Delphi had been evacuated according to the two leaders' will, crew and patients had been transported to Cybertron for the assembly at the very last battlefield – and Pharma, the Autobot medic who had been hiding so many deserters from them over the past many years, had closed down the space bridge from the other side. But maybe they wouldn't have made it there in time, anyway.

Not that they hadn't longed for their planet like every other Cybertronian did. But they had been carrying a tiny essence of Cybertron within each of them – their names always reminded them where they truly belonged. And they weren't sure they would be welcome anywhere else.

The five mechs were standing in front of the large vid screen of Peaceful Tyranny. They had never expected this to happen. Tarn had so often reminded those around him that there wouldn't be peace until Megatron said so. Five orns ago, however, he _had_ sidy so. And the mechs on board had no idea what would happen after such a change in the plans. Perhaps the Decepticons could move on to Phase 7 – repopulating Cybertron. Until getting word of the Ceasefire, none of them had truly hoped to live long enough to see that.

Vos glanced at the Division's leader, knowing he was mentally taking notes during the assembly and he had perhaps already added "You may think I've grown weak, or that I've given in. I happen to disagree" to his favorite quotations. Next to him, Kaon was drinking in the enthusiasm and hope of every Cybertronian now listening to the leader of their own faction, and more or less agreeing with the leader of their former enemy. The crowd cheered, and the faction leaders held each other as if they were celebrating a collective victory.

"Now what?" Tesarus asked. "Other than the obvious."

The question froze the team into silence for long nanoseconds. It didn't seem like there would be much need of the Decepticon Justice Division anymore. As the camera swept over the cheering crowd on the former battle ground, they noticed the phasesixer Sixshot holding a tiny red Autobot on his shoulders. While they were far from Cybertron, their world seemed to have turned upside down. And it was still in ruins.

"I'm not sure" Helex mused. "But I could help with the renovation."

Vos chirp-creaked something about cultural renovation, wondering how many mechanisms were left who could understand ancient texts that would surface from under the silt of over a hundred thousand vorns warfare. If any of the younger, undereducated mechs would like to learn the Primal Vernacular, he was more than eager to become a teacher.

"And Megatron will need a new communication specialist" Kaon said, " now that Soundwave passed away."

The elegant purple silhouette of Peaceful Tyranny pierced through Messatine's thin atmosphere as Tarn set the new coordinates for the ship. There was an unusually bright glow in Tesarus's huge X-shaped visor as the vessel turned in a new direction.

They were going home.

((You may want to read on))


	2. Optional chapter 1

(Author's note: this is not meant to happen to the DJD, not even (definitely not!) in Transformation-verse. I just wrote it down. Feel free to skip or otherwise ignore it.)

(during Act V – One, Scene ii)

Razorclaw squirmed futilely against the many metallic teeth that held his frame captive. He was five metrics high, yet he could not fly away. He was still trying to contact his gestalt mates, pleading for their help, but it looked like his team had chosen to agree to his loss, rather than trying to save him and becoming targets themselves. Some would have called them sane. Razorclaw called them cowards.

Tesarus held his prey silently. In fact, he was not only bored as usual, but he was also pissed at the birdbrain, among other things. Kaon had informed him of the fight which the gestalt-member started, and he had offered to help him luring the flame-colored flier into whatever trap his former colleagues would come up with. He had also cleared Razorclaw's execution with the rest of the Predacons. But he refused to show up in person for the kill because he could not "keep up with all this flow of information, now that almost every mech is on speaking terms with almost everyone!" Tesarus had to admit, Kaon was still a beginner for a job that Soundwave had been doing with the routine of a lifetime.

Helex, whose name-city was the scene for the murder and the arrest, was on the other side of the planet. According to him, he was "holding up a tower that's adamant on falling down, acting as a ladder for the two small architects trying to stabilize it, AND smelting a titanium alloy for an outer support that might prevent it from falling on the long term." Tesarus knew how much his partner hated multitasking, so he didn't press the issue.

But he was surprised when the normally over-eager Vos had turned him down. The gunformer had been preparing a "milestone event in Cybertronian linguistics, even Dai Atlas promised a lecture". Tesarus had tried to imagined how interesting such a meeting could be, and he soon decided he didn't want to know.

But what had really hurt him: Tarn had not even replied to his signal. Surely, the facility had been isolated from most of the communication frequencies for the tranquility of the patients and for the safe functioning of the sensitive equipment the healers had been working with. Tesarus left a bitter message for the former leader, and continued on his silent way. Megatron had requested Razorclaw to be in talking condition, but that had not meant that he could not be a little bit chewed on. Especially when four out of five executioners had refused to attend to the ceremony.

For a passing moment, he wondered what was wrong. And it wasn't only the DJD splitting up. He, like the many other mechanisms on Cybertron, had felt that something was out of place. But he placed his faith in the co-leaders, and prayed that they would find out soon.

((If you want to know what happened to Tarn, read on.))


	3. Optional chapter 2

(during Act V – One, Scene iii)

The Medical Mechanics Facility was one of the first buildings erected on the battle-broken surface. It was of simple, functional design, but large and well equipped, built to be worthy of its predecessor. The medics were battle-hardened professionals, having seen the ugly sides of war. There were very few cases that they hadn't seen worse before.

"You."

That voice was very close to freezing Wheeljack's spark.

"Quit harassing my patients. Now."

The Autobot turned around, only to face a mech almost a head taller than he was. The flicker in the medic's wounded left optic informed him of just how seriously the tankformer expected him to leave Perceptor alone. But just in case the message wasn't clear enough, the Decepticon was pointing a double fusion cannon at the visitor.

"My, my. I only wanted to see if Percy was all right."

"All right? He almost halved his spark, and you expect him to be 'all right'? I suggest you have your processor checked for major glitches."

Wheeljack stared at the spark specialist, wondering why that style sounded so familiar. It almost sounded as if he'd ran into Ratchet himself! But then, he had to admit, Perceptor and Scrapper were in the best hands. And, if one day, he would catch Ratchet dropping a quote from Megatron – well, peacetime can do unexpected things to warriors too eager to follow their leaders' example...

((Hey! I'm not saying it actually happened! It's just, you know, a possibility...))


End file.
